Today @ Colorado State has been replaced by SOURCE. This site exists as an archive of Today @ Colorado State stories between January 1, 2009 and September 8, 2014.

Working at CSU

Professor Emeritus Gotshall interim head of OT department

April 30

Recently retired faculty member from the Department of Health and Exercise Science has been tapped as an interim leader of the Department of Occupational Therapy.

Gotshall has agreed to serve as interim department head while a national search is conducted to replace current head, Wendy Wood. After six years as department head, Wood is returning to her faculty position in OT to lead a project researching the effectiveness of equine-assisted activity and therapy in collaboration with CSU's Equine Sciences Program.

"I am pleased that one of our distinguished retired faculty members is willing to come back and step into this role as interim department head of occupational therapy," said Jeff McCubbin, dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences. "Bob Gotshall will provide outstanding leadership until a permanent head can be named."

Gotshall retired in 2011 after a 20-year career at CSU in health and exercise science. His specialty and area of research was cardio-pulmonary physiology.

Leadership experience

Gotshall brings extensive leadership and service experience to this role. He served as graduate program director in HES and was part of the team that developed the Ph.D. program in HES in Human Bioenergetics. Gotshall was especially respected for his valuable service contributions on various committees at the university, college, and department levels. He was awarded the Oliver P. Pennock Distinguished Service Award from CSU prior to his retirement. The Robert W. Gotshall Graduate Scholarship in HES was established in his name, part of Bob's legacy at CSU.

"It is my honor to join the Department of Occupational Therapy in this interim position as their department head," Gotschall said. "The Department of Occupational Therapy is highly ranked nationally in recognition of its outstanding academic, research, and outreach programs. The department is also highly regarded by its students, the heart and soul of any department. It will be an exciting challenge to work with the faculty and its students to retain this level of excellence, and to continue to move forward in anticipation of a new permanent department head next year."

Gotshall will start in his interim position on Aug. 1.

About the department

The Department of Occupational Therapy, part of the College of Health and Human Sciences, was ranked by U.S. News and World Report as No. 6 in the nation among similar programs in its 2014 rankings. And current and former students ranked CSU No. 1 in a survey by graduateprograms.com.

CSU-OT was designated a "Program of Excellence" by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, and a "Program of Research and Scholarly Excellence" by Colorado State University. It offers two master's programs and admitted its first doctoral candidates in Fall 2013.